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Loading ...Gay couples rally for marriage rights
02.12.2009 9:22am EST
(New York City) Thousands of same-sex couples nationwide are prepared to apply for marriage licenses on Thursday.
The attempts are being undertaken to protest court and voter decisions restricting legal matrimony to opposite-sex couples.Activists geared up for rallies at marriage bureaus or county clerks’ offices in communities large and small – from New York, Arkansas, California and Florida to Kentucky and Nevada.
This week, which encompasses Lincoln’s Birthday and Valentine’s Day, marks the 12th annual Freedom to Marry Week, usually celebrated with marriage-license protests.
Same-sex partners and their non-gay friends, families and allies are demanding that no couple in a consensual, committed relationship be denied permission to marry – complete with the rights, protections and benefits the government assigns to the legal ritual.
This year’s protests are more important than ever, said one New York organizer, because they come in the wake of California’s Proposition 8 vote and just as New Yorkers look to their state Senate to pass legislation that could lead to legalized gay marriage.
“I want to have that option,” said 23-year-old J. Heath Tucker, who doesn’t want to get married now, but “when I find the person I fall in love with, I want to be able to get married.”
He is a member of Join the Impact, a national community-based group that helped organize hundreds of people seeking licenses at the marriage bureau in lower Manhattan on Thursday.
This year’s event “is more important because people had something given to them, then had it stripped away,” Tucker said of California, where more than 18,000 same-sex couples were married last year.
Massachusetts and Connecticut are the only states that allow gay marriage. Gay marriages are not allowed elsewhere, and 30 states have taken the extra step of entrenching the ban in their state constitution.
Freedom to Marry events around the country are listed on Web sites, including those run by two major organizations behind the protests – Join the Impact and the national grass-roots organization Marriage Equality USA.
Some of the largest gatherings were expected in California. On March 5, the state’s Supreme Court will hear oral arguments over whether to overturn Proposition 8 and restore California same-sex marriages. The court could render a decision as early as June.
The proposition, which changed the state’s constitution to restrict the definition of marriage to one man and one woman, was narrowly approved by California voters last November.
In New York, same-sex marriages cannot legally be performed. However, Gov. David Paterson has issued a directive requiring that all state agencies recognize same-sex marriages performed in other jurisdictions.
“I hope the Senate will keep gay marriage on its 2009 agenda,” said Tucker.
Senate Majority Leader Malcolm A. Smith has suggested that he and his fellow Democrats lack the votes needed to pass a same-sex marriage bill this year. However, Smith said several days ago that he and fellow legislators are “committed to pursuing its passage.”
shawn
i don’t call 52/48 a vast majority, and i don’t think anyone else who passed math 025 does either. It’s fairly healthy, but it’s no landslide. And bigotry is bigotry. When you stop seeing people as people and you forgett that we’re all monkies from the same tree and you just start hating them because of who they are you bring yourself down to their level and justify your own mistreatment in the eyes of moderate people who would have otherwise treated you with respect and perhaps even helped you. Science and God are not exclusive and neither are homosexuals and morality. So unless you found an Island for them to dump us all on like we used to joke about as kids then i guess you should just get ready for, and used to, failure. Because ‘united we stand’ was chosen for it’s truth, not it’s catchiness.
Yaaaaaawn! You PC yuppie hetero ass kissers make me laugh! Next I suppose you’re all going to tell me that it was the vast majority of HOMOsexuals who voted away and imposed constitutional bans on our marriage rights across this wonderful country of ours, right? Say what you will about me and my anti hetero”ism” the fact remains. These “people” will NEVER accept me, you or “US”(which is actually fine by me because I could never stomach them either, LOL). I mean sure, if you’re rolling in [butt]loads of $$$ then the heteros will more than bend over(no pun intended)to be our “allies”. Kinda funny that I have to sit here and actually explain this to you folks. Methinks Harvey Milk would prolly be rolling in his crypt to actually see the level of hetero hooch smoochin’ going on lately. As far as the heteros who are on here proclaiming to be our “friends” and “allies” my advice to you is to try to find some other venue to assuage your guilty conscience! I for one don’t buy into it. Furthermore, for all the religiously loony homos out there who embrace ANY religion, try dealing with your feelings of guilt in a more positive healthy way. Sucking up to the breeders and their half assed redneck sky daddy ideology will get you absolutely NOWHERE fast! LMFAO! We are what NATURE made us and as evolution molds us! THAT is what scares the heteros SO badly! They know EXACTLY what we are! THE FUTURE! Peace all.
Shawn…what about PFLAG’s and GSA’s..are you telling me those pictures of HUNDREDs straight High Schooler picketing the Westobor nuts in Kansas City last week were fake! I think not.
STR8 Against H8
Shawn,
that much hatred toward anyone is probably a good cause for you to seek an exorcism or at the very least some type of therapy, i will grant you that there are religious and straight “enemies” of the gay community but dont fool yourself into thinking that your way of thinking is going to get us anywhere. My straight family and friends work very hard for us as well as my minister maybe you should look into finding a gay friendly church with a LOT of straight people in it and hopefully they can teach you something.
Wow did this tread get hyjacked. Anyway I am sure many of us have fair minded strait friend. I have many that I share common interests in. Before Prop 8 passed I had almost forgot that I was different. I guess I live in a good place and have good friends. I will give Shawn that they may not know what it is exactly like to be us. But at least my strait friends try to and did vote no on 8.
Tom in Long Beach
Shawn: you need to change dealers. That stepped-on stuff you’re using is rotting your brain!
Let’s hear it for our straight fair-minded allies!
And some of us gays are bashing straights when at times the straights have found themselves working for gay rights for gays who can’t bothered to show up to fight for their own rights.
I occasionally read about these things.
Wow, shawn, you are quite the nutcase.
It’s tiring trying to fight ignorance from *both* sides, so I’ll just leave it at that.
Shawn,
Not so. Many of the top scientists for centuries up to the present day have that as I have pointed out a couple times over the past years, have found that God and science complement each other. The order and exactness with which scientist found things and explained and varified things was vindication to them that the inspiration from which they drew on from faith, creation, nature, and spiritual life and how those things preceeded in a certain order was meaningful to them. Just like the finding of our new preacher is following an exact step by step process laid out for my church.
Certain things in a church like mine are laid out in a certain path and a certain orders with steps leading up to fulfilling a definite goal.
So it is with science. Things in science in many cases have a goal in mind and certain steps taken toward that goal, a certain order, a certain discipline, a certain protocol used. Scientific developements, and discoveries came about planned or not planned after following a certain way to do that. So many top scientists past and present have connected the order,exactnees and rigor and the quantifiable varification of the new mathematical, engineering and other things they have brought about after years of research, proof and testing, whether the end result please everyone or not with they have learned a sense the of the magnificent and complexly designed creation in front of them is of God. For there is a certain order with which these creatures developed and grew. Certain creatures have the ability to change color to match their surroundings. There is certain order to way things grow and change that science is able to examine and explain.
Religion and scientific enquiry dovetail each other in certain ways and explain each other. Neither one is mutually exclusive of the other.
As of biblical “fairy tales” these are symbolic, are lessons and parables and used to explain things.
My friend is one of the strongest, and most courageous and gutsy men I have seen in my life. He has weathered the sadness of seeing his beloved wife sicken from and die from cancer and go through things that might destroy men of lesser fortitude and physical stamina.
He has picked himself up has aged a bit from the stress of grieving and mourning but has moved on and gotten on with life.
He is now openly gay and has an openly gay same-sex partner he loves very much in a committed monogamous relationship.
Every one is on their own journey in life.
I have said that I respect fair-minded atheists and fair-minded religious people alike.
What is regretable, Shawn,is the intolerance shown on either end of the spectrum.
Atheism does not work for me, same as religion does not work for you Shawn.
I am a centrist in this spectrum, leaning a bit toward my faith, but do not believe in litteralism (given the parables, metaphors and symnbolism used and some the things which are not possible to follow, but those parts of my faith that are doable and of positive good in today’s world enriches my life and I follow what I can of that.
Lincoln was a great man freed the slave and went through a bitter war to reunite this land into one political union again.
Another excellent man who was a non-believer.
Shawn,
If you don’t have straight friends or religious relatives who will fight for your cause, then I’m sorry. Because you know what? I do. I have straight friends and religious relatives who will march for my rights. Why? Because I know how to reach out.
If “reaching out” is your definition of “kissing ass,” then man, I could only imagine the kind of world you’ve made for yourself. Go LYFAO. Either way, you’re no help as you are right now.
Uniting for a “common” cause with heterosexuals who cannot possibly grasp what it’s like being us spells nothing but political SUICIDE! Oil and water do NOT mix(much like science and religion). I prefer it to be ZERO affiliation with the heteros. Simply put I wouldn’t trust them as far as I could toss a semi! LOL! They will always have a superiority attitude in dealing with us merely because they can crank out lots and lots of unwanted babies. For all of our gay “brothers” who pal around with these overactive breeder reactors maybe you should step back and ask yourself exactly what do you wish to accomplish? Your so called straight friends really don’t give a flying F**K about you, about us or(most importantly) about our civil rights movement!! All one needs to do is check out the list of donors to the Prop H8 campaign to confirm THAT! OH how I so SO wish that the names of the signers of that petition were put online! I think it would’ve been quite a eye OPENER for all these yuppie, artsy fartsy middle class homos to discover what many of their absolutely fabulous hetero friends really think of them and US in general. Ass kissing is SO simply pathetic! LMFAO!
To people who insist on dwindling the issue of gay marriage down into atheist vs. God arguments,
The gay marriage issue is primarily about homophobia, PERIOD! There are religious people who support gay marriage. There are atheists who support gay marriage. All these people have to do is share what they have in common and fight together, not each other!
So please, I don’t give a damn what you believe or not believe in with regards to faith. Stop the character attacks, which a lot of bigots tend to do, and focus on uniting for a common cause. If you can’t do that, then GTFO!
Hate to break the very, VERY sad news to ya Mrs. Morgan but science and religion are completely INcapatable! It sounds like your religious “scientist” friend is a complete coward who can’t bear to break himself from the ignorance of biblical fairy tales! LOL! He either cannot bring himself to accept the truth of science or else he can’t handle the guilt he feels about being queerer than a three dollar bill! My advice to your little religious pal, or anyone else out there who can’t sleep at night without the invisible sky daddy, is simply this: “shit or get off the friggin pot!” Nuff said!
David W,
I have a friend who has a Bible from years ago. He is however a Unitarian for the last few years. He has been in both Baptist (his family’s) church and a Unitarian one and he prefers Unitarian. Each to their own, as they say.
We have highly intelligent people from both ends of the spectrum and in between.
My best gay friend(both my personal friend and a man of faith)is a very highly intelligent man with university degrees, employed at one of Carnegie’s scientific research locations, very logical, deep-thinking and science-minded, very quick-witted, highly organized guy who puts together and does lectures, exhibits and engages some of the top scietific minds in the earth sciences, used to be president of a scientific outfit, once married for 20 years and very loyal to a wife until she became ill from cancer and died and 2 years later partnered to another openly gay man and both out in gay society. Very liberal, compassionate, concerned for the well-being of those less-well off than himself, etc. A nice guy with a bright mind and a good heart. Member of our vestry and is now just below the preacher in important for our congregation. He deals with both Bishop Chane of Washington,, DC, with the budget and direction of our church, with our temporary preacher (white female in an interracial marriage and who is very progay rights) and congregation and with helping to interview and coordinate the search of our permanent preacher.
High quality human being and “prince of a man” so to speak. One with a conscience and a sense of wanting and needing to do the “right thing”. My friend of 17 years is very well liked by many and could fill a large room with the people who know and admire him personally and professionally. And he is a man of faith.
Both types do tremendous good. atheist Brad Pitt is a shining example of the tremendous charitable good work he does for many things. Bishop Walker who led the Episcopal faith’s National Cathedral for years, would get himself arrested years ago protesting apartheid in front of the South African embassy. Liberal-minded people of faith work to uplift men and women in our community who are needy,hungry and homeless. We are out their pushing for equal rights and marriage equality.
So, I think Dave W,
Your comment on who is the intelligent one or leader in that regards misses the boat and does a disservice to those good-hearted, gay friendly and highly motivated gay and straight people of faith who do what is in their power to make life better for others less well-off than themselves or those people of faith who wholeheartedly fight against oppression of GLBTs.
You could march to my church and other churches that are gay-friendly and you would be received with open arms and you would find friendly and intelligent people there on your side and in agreement with you on gay rights.
What a great way to protest. Here in Mass of course we don’t need to but our hearts are with all of you.
How great this is done on Lincoln’s birthday, our most atheist president (not the only one…but with the best historical proof). We should honor Lincoln and Darwin (also born today) by rejecting the lies of religion, which we all know is the only reason people are against marriage equality.
I’ve listened to many pieces about Lincoln today and only NPR mentioned his very well documented lack of religious faith. People have told me he must have been a believer as Obama borrowed his bible! If folks would simply admit that the mob doesn’t allow leaders to be seen as intelligent (oops…freethinkers!) we would be able to recognize the fact that most leaders of society throughout history have been non-believers. It simply coincides with success…probably has something to do with intelligence.
So do protest, and maybe after rallying at city halls you could march to any nearby church and let them know how you feel.